


Controlling a marionette

by Notdeadyet6



Series: The Puppet Master's puppeteer [1]
Category: jacksepticeye
Genre: :P, Other, a bit of blood, greyson is my headcanon name for jackie, stabing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-01-13 10:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18466843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notdeadyet6/pseuds/Notdeadyet6
Summary: It threw something into the light. A detailed puppet, strings and all. Even though Chase had never seen the demon the others called Anti, he recognized the puppet.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to [My bud Griffin](https://blog-griffin-me.tumblr.com/) for helping me edit and put this fic together

All Chase could see was the faint outline of the walls and the area of floor before him; illuminated by a light coming from seemingly nowhere. It was right to call this place the void. The only thing that could be heard was the erie ticking of a clock on the wall; other than that even his own heartbeat was silenced.

Is this what it was like for Henrik all that time? Deafening silence, except the clock reminding him of the passing time. Even after only being here a few hours Chase understood why the doctor hadn’t wanted a say a word about this place, and he wasn’t in even the worst of it yet.

There was a figure in front of him, standing in the shadows past the light. He wasn’t sure if they’d just shown up or it they’d been here the whole time.

“Who are you? Speak!” Chase cried.

There was more silence until a voice cut through the darkness. It didn’t sound human, more like a cheap text-to-speech robot. It only added to the creepiness.

“Chase Brody,” they, no it said. “It’s so good to see you.”

“What the fuck?”

“Language.” No emotion or anything in it’s voice.

“What are you? Do you work for Anti?”

“Ha ha ha,” it laughed, sounding even more robotic. “Guess I played the character too well.”

It threw something into the light. A detailed puppet, strings and all. Even though Chase had never seen the demon the others called Anti, he recognized the puppet.

“Wh-a what?” Chase was dumbfounded.

“I was hoping to make the doctor part of my collection, sense he needed a friend,” Another dry laugh, “but I got too wrapped up in toying with him that I didn’t notice the days passing by.”

“You sick fuck!” He screamed loud enough that it hurt his throat.

“Didn’t I say something about language? We ought to shut that mouth of yours.”

For a split second he could see the light reflect off of something. A sewing needle.

A spool of thread landed on the floor in the light and he could hear the snip of scissors.

The ticking of the clock got noticeably louder then it stopped. The sound of static filled the void and there was a loud sound similar to a whip being cracked.

The clock bagan ticking backwards at an increased speed.

Negative three hours, eight, ten. Days went by backards.

T̨h̶͡ r̶ ̡͝ ̡͜ e̸̢͠e̕ ̢ ̴̡ ̨͝͝ ̴҉̕d͠͏a ͜ ̡͢ ̨ ̨̨ y̧͞͠ş͢ ͢͠ear ̢̧l ͠ ҉ ̕͘ie̛r ̴͜

There is an old saying, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Well it’s bullshit. Well only half-bullshit.

Chase has been in many a long distance relationship, and he can tell you “Out of slight, out of mind,” is more fitting. That is until someone you’ve relied on for so long suddenly goes missing. Then it’s more like “I haven’t seen you in nine months and if I saw you now I’d hug you and never let go.”

The the moment Chase was stapling missing posters to every phone pole, tree, wall, bench, and anything else he could. Three months ago the police told him it was a loss cause. Two months ago Marvin took the sign off of Henrik’s door marking it was his. Even after that Chase refused to let him move anything inside the room.

It seems silly to have gone to the police. Everyone knew who took Henrik and the police would be no help getting him back. It was most likely a spur of the moment thing, maybe to give everyone a slight bit of hope before it came crashing down.

The only other person who hasn’t given up hope yet was Jackie, or Greyson, his actual name. He would swoop around the city everyday searching for any sign of him. He still somehow kept a smile even when it came to delivering the news that there was no sign of him.

It was nice though, even though Henrik’s disappearance tore everyone else apart, it seems like the two of them have gotten even closer. Guess that’s the weird thing about tragedies, sure life sucks but you still got to live it.

He’d finished putting up the posters and was heading back home to Septic inc. when through the glass door he saw an old timey man standing around, looking a bit lost.

“Need a hand, or a guide?” he asked, letting himself in. The man jumped and stumbled a bit.

The stranger, most likely a new ego since no one else could enter this building, wore a white button-up shirt and a black vest over it. He also wore black dress pants and shoes and his right eye was slightly darker shade of blue than his left. He also had mint green hair and a bowler hat.

“You new here?”

Marvin also appeared in a the doorway, looking tried and a bit disheveled. He brightened up at the stranger.

A black-and-white slide appeared in the stranger’s hands, reading: **“I am new. I am not sure how I got here.”**

“Cool slides. Are they magic or something?” Marvin asked, examining them closer.

The slide changed. **“Magic? I don’t know, I can just summon them without much thought. I use them to communicate.”**

“Cool, bro!” Chase winked, giving awkward finger guns.

“You got a name or do you just wanna be Dapper man?” Marvin jokes.

The dapper stanger looks almost offended for a split second, or maybe it was just Chase overreacting. Next second he’s smiling again and the slide says something different.

**“Jameson Jackson. Pleased to meet you!”** He holds out his hand, holding the slide in his other.

“Marvin. And this is Chase.” He tips his cap at his name.

“Why don’t I take Jameson here on a tour. Greyson’s waiting for you on the roof,” Marvin said, grabbing the newer ego by the arm.

“Alright, just don’t freak him out,” he replied, noticing a slight look of distress on the dapper ego’s face.

“I won’t.” The magician gave him a sinister smile that didn’t help Chase’s paranoia.

With that the two disappear through the doorway Marvin just appeared from, pushing the button on the elevator first.

On the roof, standing at the edge stood a man in jeans and a bright red hoodie. The hood was down relieving a head of grass-green hair and a blue mask.

“Grey!” he called, a grin forming on his face. The man spun around a grin also painted on his face, but weaker.

“So I’m guessing no new news?” The man’s expression drops and he turns back towards the edge.

Chase would step closer but he doesn’t trust himself not to tumble right over the side. It’s only a three story drop to the ground, so he could survive but who’s gonna take the chance.

“It’s been almost ten months and still not even a ransom note or something!” He draws in a long, shaky sigh.”I’m thinking… what if An- you-know-who didn’t take him and he just left.”

Chase felt like he was just stabbed. For a second the tumble to the ground didn’t sound so bad.

“How could you say that! Henrik would never do that, and even if he did he would’ve told someone or left a note!” He had to stop himself from going into an angry rant.

Greyson held his hands up in defence. “I know, I know. It was just a theory, he would’ve also taken some of his stuff as well.” He audibly gulped and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“I’m just saying,” he continues looking down at the street, “that if you-know-who did take him, he would probably be de-” he suddenly cuts off, his eyes growing wider.

“I know he could be dead right now but you can’t really be giving-” Greyson punches him lightly and frantically points at someone below, stuttering to get anything out.

There on the sidewalk, marching forward like he was hired to kill ironman, was Henrik Von Schneeplestein in the flesh. From here he looked normal but they could see large purple marks peppering his skin.

They scramble for the elevator before silently deciding the rush down the stairs. They made it to the bottom just as Henrik opened the door.

His eyes were bloodshot, his nails and hair long and dirty, his coat torn to shreds, his glasses cracked, overall he looked close to passing out or just straight up dying on the spot, yet he still held himself up. 

They were too stunned to speak. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point tears started spilling from Chase’s eyes.

Greyson moved forward to hug him put he raised his arm up to stop him.

“I’m sorry, I’d love to hug you but if I do my legs will give out or I’ll start bleeding again.” He hissed with pain just from moving his arm. It was taking a lot of energy and concentration just to keep from falling over right now.

“It’s been nine months,” Greyson squeaked, barely a whisper. He himself felt like he was about to pass out, he’d already joined Chase in crying.

“I’m aware.” Nine months of seemingly being tortured and he’s still a smart-ass. Chase could help giggling a bit, which soon dissolved into full on laughter.

Greyson soon joined him and so did Henrik, but for him it turned into a coughing fit. There was blood on his hands and none of them were sure if he coughed it up or if a cut on his hand reopened.

“There’s a new guy isn’t there?” the doctor asked.

“How did you know about that?”

He didn’t respond, instead he pushed pass them and stepped into the hallway. The two glanced at each other before following.

Right as they stepped in, Marvin rounded the corner holding onto Jameson. Jameson was holding his hand over his right eye. Chase could see blood soaking through his fingers.

“Jackie! Chase! Henrik?!!” the magician panted. “I ah- wait- I didn’t. Henrik!”

He let go of the dapper man and stared dumbfounded.

“Marv,” he stated quietly, his voice cracking.

The magician swooped him into a hug without a second thought, forgetting the newer ego clearly in need of some help.

“I umm.” He clears his throat. “I thought you were dead.” Tears ran down his face.

“I thought I was dead to.” The doctor mumbled, barely a whisper, before he fell apart and collapsed into Marvin’s arms.

Jameson on the other hand was looking more and more antsy. He tapped on Marvin’s shoulder and another slide appeared. 

**“Hate to break up whatever’s happening here but I have a little problem.”** The slide floats as he points to his eye.

“Oh right. Ah, Chase! Jackie! Take JJ here to the hospital wing and have Dr. Septiceye patch him up,” Marvin commanded.

“Doctor who now?” Henrik groaned.

“Not important right now,” he hushes, carrying him off to his room.

As much as they want to stay with the doctor, Jackie and Chase obey and lead Jameson up stairs.

Chase had only ever been the the hospital wing once after Henrik’s disappearance and that was just to show Dr. Jack Septiceye around. Now it looked nothing like the old E.R. Henrik ran.

Everything had been replaced, everything that made the room homey, everything that made the room Henrik’s. The cozy pull-out couch that he would sleep in often was replaced with another hospital bed and the vintage wooden desk was replaced with a cold, metal, new one.

Just opening the door to this place sent a shiver down the father-of-two’s spine.

Dr. Septiceye himself was currently hunched over said desk. He was trying to look like he was doing work, but from what Chase knew about the man, he was probably doing a coloring sheet.

Greyson cleared his throat and the “totally-real-doctor” spun around while stuffing whatever paper he was working on under a pile of other papers.

Chase smiles half-heartedly, guestering to Jameson’s problem.

“Ah, yes leave him over there.” He points to a hospital bed, not seeming too interested in doing his job.

They comply. The doctor sighs before getting up and grabbing some disinfectant and bandages.

“Can you tell me when and why your eye started bleeding?” he asks, carefully cleaning the blood off his hand and face with a small cloth.

The dapper ego shook his head.

“You two can leave,” he says offhandedly.

***

“Today’s been pretty chaotic hasn’t it?” Greyson asked. The two were now sitting back on the roof, Greyson with his feet dangling over the edge of the building and Chase sitting a safe distance away.

“It most certainly has.” He lets out a deep, tired sigh.

“Something up?”

“I just… feel like I should be a bit happier about Henrik returning and JJ showing up, but instead I’m just scared.”

“Scared? How?” The hero scoots a bit closer to him.

“Now with Henrik back you-know-who is going to try and get him back or attack JJ here and…” he trails off, putting his head in his hands.

“I might have a solution!” Marvin said, appearing from seemingly nowhere.

“Solution? What do you mean?” Greyson asks. The two of them now standing up.

“Well I can’t put my idea into effect till tomorrow nor can i really explain without it sounded really bad, but with a bit of magic I can get us some help.” He twirls his finger in the air. “Of course I’ll need one of you to help me.”

Chase and Greyson glance at each other before either of them spoke.

“I’ll help you out. Grey’s gotta do hero work anyway.”

Marvin clapped his hands together. “Alright, meet me at the cemetery tomorrow at eleven a.m. sharp.” With that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“D-did he say the cemetery?”

Greyson noded.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie sleep like a rock through out the rest of the day and the night. Chase on the other hand did not.

After yesterday, Henrik looked much better. His hair and nails were cut, and Marvin must have used a spell of some kind because all the bruises and scratches on his face were gone. He was still skinner than a rail but at least he didn’t look like he was about to die.

He was wearing his usual doctor outfit and a surgeon’s mask.

“Hey, doc. You doing alright?” Chase greeted.

“I’m doing better.” He pulls him into a small hug.

“You heading somewhere?”

“I’m going to introduce myself to this new doctor.” He growls a bit under his breath, letting go of him.

“Well good luck with that. Oh, by the way, have you seen Marvin?”

“I think he said he was going to a graveyard or something,” He said before disappearing up the stairwell.

Chase gulped. So he really was serious.

***

“Why are you being so cryptic?” Chase asked, following the magician around. He kept shoving books and other things Chase didn’t want to know about into his arms without explanation.

“I’m trying to explain just follow me.” They navigated the cemetery carefully, trying not to bump into or knock over any grave markers.

They stopped in front of one of the gravestones. Chase recognized the name on it.

“Robert McLoughlin.” They read in unison.

“Why are we stopping here? And will you tell me why we are here again?”

Marvin grabbed the book from the top of the stack Chase was carrying and opened to a ribbon bookmark. “Well you know with Henrik’s return and JJ’s appearance we’ll need more protection, right? Like a guardian of sorts.”

“And you plan to raise the dead to protect us.” Chase said, not liking how the dots connected.

“Attaboy!” Marvin cheered.

“Where do I even start.” He places the books on the ground.

“You can start by standing back, when I cast a spell.”

He steps back, slightly ducking behind a tombstone. “Why do you need so many books, if the spells in that one book?”

Marvin hums. “If this spell doesn’t work I can try one from one of the other books.”

Everything goes eerily quiet as he begins reading. His eyes glow, his long hair floated around. The wind blew harder, swirling around them, knocking Chase’s hat off and carrying it away.

Once he finished, everything settled down. There was a long silence, only broken by Marvin clapping his book shut and tossing it on the pile.

“Welp, next book it-” He didn’t finish. The ground rumbled, and a greyish purple hand shot out of the ground. Chase screeched, Marvin laughed.

Both of them backed up, the magician grabbing the others arm to keep him from bolting.

A second hand popped up and out crawled a small, almost child sized zombie. He was wearing a striped sweater, with long stretched out sleeves. In his hand he held a small, worn down teddy bear.

They were both dumbstruck.

“D-did you check how old Robert was when he died?” Chase questioned.

“I-it seems I didn’t…”

The zombie looked around, looking scared and timid. They both knew they couldn’t just leave him there and neither of them were going to put him back into the grave.

“This changes some things,” Marvin mumbled, keeping a nervous smile on this face. 

“What are we going to do?”

“Take him with us, hope no one asks too many questions and hope Anti doesn’t try anything.” He half-sighs half-groans.

The zombie finial seemed to talk notice of them and jumped backwards, tripping over his own gravestone. He let out a wail, and started crying, triggering Chase’s parental instinct.

The father rushes forward. “Hey, hey, Robbie. It’ll be okay.” He pulls him up, patting his head.

The magician couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “One- one second ago you were terrified of that thing-” he pauses, trying to gain control of himself, “-and the next you’ve adopted it!” He wheezes.

He scoffs. “Please, I wasn’t terrified, just a bit startled. And I haven’t adopted him!” 

“Please, that’s what they all say. You give him a nickname in the first three minutes of his existence.” He whips a tear from his eye.

“I give a lot of people a nickname in the first three seconds of their existence! You gave JJ’s his after only a minute and-a-half.”

“Come on, Jameson Jackson, JJ was just common sense.”

Robbie glanced between them multiple times during this this exchange. Clinging onto Chase.

“Okay this argument is stupid, let’s go home,” Marvin said, swooping up his books.

“Agreed, let’s go.”

***

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on how you look at it, no one noticed or mentioned Robbie. Guess when you live with this group of weirdos nothing surprises you anymore.

The only person who even reacted to Robbie, besides JJ who just seemed very confused, was Henrik, and that had more to do with germaphobia than the fact that Chase had a zombie clinging to his arm. Speaking of Henrik-

“OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EYE!!??” Marvin dumped his books on the floor and ran to explain the clear black eye the doctor had. “What- what did you do?”

“Calm down! I just got into a fight.” He attempted to brush it off, but Marvin wasn’t having it.

“Who did this! I’ll kill them!”

Robbie filenched and hid behind Chase. He gave the zombie a sympathetic look.

“Hey Marv, aren’t you overreacting a bit? I means he’s a full grown man.” As much as he worried about the doc, he knew how powerful he was.

“You stay out of this!” Marvin nearly hissed.

“It was Dr. Jack. He was in my chair, I shoved him, he punched me, it grew from there.”

“I knew it, we should’ve never trusted that little shit! Did he hurt you anywhere else?” He growls under his breath. “I swear I’ll kill him.”

“As much as much I’d love for you to kill that poor excuse for a doctor, he’s still one of us. And no he didn’t hurt me.” He grabbed onto the magicians waist before he could run off and do something stupid.

“Chase, go find a place for Robbie to stay. Henrik, you’re staying with me till I figure out how to fix that bruise.” Neither of them fought with him.

Chase supposed he could make a makeshift bed out of the bean bag he had and some blankets. He opened the door and jumped back in shock.

Jameson was standing there, snooping around. He jumps back as well, looking a little irritated.

“What are you doing in here?”

**“I got a little turned around and walked into this room. I was trying to figure out whose room this was.”** He grinned nervously, a second smaller slide appeared, simply reading: **“Sorry.”**

“It-it’s okay dude.”

Robbie stared blankly at the slides.

JJ stepped out, still looking embarrassed. Chase looked around, nothing seemed out of place so he pushed any suspicion he had aside. 

He pulled out an old green bean bag and set it in the cleanest corner of his room. With a few blankets and a pillow it looked like a big nest. Robbie curled up into it and passed right out.

Chase chuckled to himself. If only his own kids would go to sleep that easily. Though he did worry, sense it was still the middle of the day, that tonight he’d have to deal with a fully charged zombie child, but that was a problem for future him.

He tried to make a mental note of where everyone was currently. Robbie was in his room. Greyson was in the kitchen and from what he knew Jameson was heading to his room. Dr. Jack was in the clinic, Henrik was with Marvin. Everyone was safely inside.

He knew that, no one would he stupid enough to leave the house at a time like this. Still there was a growing paranoia in the back of his head. Maybe he is just tired or hungry or just on edge with the appearance of two new egos and the reappearance of Henrik.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the feeling of someone’s eyes on him. He turns to see JJ standing behind him.

“Get lost again?” He asked jokingly.

He shook his head. “I feel like something bad is going to happen and soon. I want to stay around you.”

The hair on the back of his neck raised. “Well I’m sure there are better, stronger people you could stick around.”

He shakes his head again. **“No I has to be you. I trust you.”**

Any fear of mistrust he felt toward Jameson vanished in that insenint.

H̵̢̛̠͈̟͍̐̆͞ơ̸͕͙̳̙̣͙͇̜̞̈̈̐͢͠w̧̢̡̛̛̺͓͉̯̩̎͆̕ f̛̯̥̻̖̙̤̈̓̍̅̾̅͞ȏ̬͈̠̺͈̣̂͆̆͐̀͢ͅọ̷̯̦̤̙̔̅̑̈́͘̕͟l̷̖̟͎͇̳̯̩̫̇̏̔̽̆̽͠ͅį͇̙̹̪̫̼͔͕̈̏͗̿̒̉͋̾̚͞s̷̢̢̞͖̺̰̏͐͋͆̃̔̃͠͡͠h̷̙̥̣͈͙͚̾̿̄̇̚͘͞.̧̻̪̼̲̱̟̂̿̍͆

***

Robbie sleep like a rock through out the rest of the day and the night. Chase on the other hand did not.

Nightmares were a common thing among the septic household, but this one… Something about it stuck, like it wasn’t just a dream.

He was stuck in a very cold room, his arms chained above his head. The room was silent; deadly silent. Three figures stood in front of him.

Henrik, Dr. Septiceye, and… Anti, the cause of every nightmare the septics have ever had. Henrik’s kidnapper and the reason Greyson hasn’t gotten a full night’s rest in three weeks.

Chase had only ever seen the demon once and he’s still not entirely sure it was real. He never mentioned that encounter with anyone else, still believing that he was hallucinating at the time.

The three of them stood there stock-still, like mannequins. They don’t breathe or blink or show any emotion on their faces.

He suddenly finds that his arms are free. Carefully and sneaks past them, none of them move or even to notice he’s there. Next he finds himself walking down a hallway covered in doors, It takes him a second but he recognizes the hallway. He’s at home.

Stumbling a bit he opens the door to his room, except it’s not his room. It’s completely black.

Something behind him shoved him down. He falls, but it doesn’t feel like falling, more like sinking through cold water. When he landed he found himself in a hallway bathed in red light.

“I remember this place.” He whispers.

There at the end of the hallway stood Anti, facing away from him and looking into the room at the end. His kids are in there, he doesn’t know how he knows that but he does.

“Carmelia! Samuel!” He calls, not sure what else to do.

The figure turns around, but there’s something different. His eye doesn’t glow nor does his body glitch. He looks sad like he doesn’t want to be doing this.

He stalks forward; Chase is frozen in place, but unlike the original encounter something changes. Anti falls to his knees looking disdained.

“J-jack?” Chase stutters. The man shakes his head and points the his left.

There’s a dark room there that wasn’t there before. The red hallway disappears and he’s back in that room he started this nightmare in.

It sounds like there’s a fight happening somewhere in this room. He can faintly see the outline of two figures but he can’t make out any details.

There’s a loud grunt and something skids into his view. A dark blue button about the size of his eye. He swoops down to grab it without thinking.

As soon as it touches the palm of his hand he jolts up in bed. He’s in his room, Robbie curled up in the nest he made for him and the clocking reading three am.

The dream wasn’t even that scary, not scary compared the the dreams he usually had, he he couldn’t calm his heart beat or steady his breathing.

He was about to lie back down and try to go back to sleep when he noticed something warm in his hand.

A dark blue button.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Time is broken my friend!"

Chase couldn’t sleep at all that night. He was paranoid and fidgety all day. So was everyone else so no one thought much of it. Of course everyone was paranoid, Anti could attack any day.

He kept checking his pocket for the button every few seconds. He wasn’t sure if he was hoping that it wouldn’t be there anymore or if he was hoping it was still there.

He hadn’t told anyone about the dream or the button. Nightmares were a common sign that something bad was going to happen and he didn’t want to worry them more. Also he was sure if he told anyone about the button, the moment he reached in his pocket to grab it, it would disappear.

They chose that the best plan would be to stick together so if Anti did attack then they would have safety in numbers. That plan flew out the window as Greyson, in a panic, ran out to survey the city and Henrik, fearing for the others, isolated himself in his room.

Robbie didn’t seem to understand what was going on, and just wandered around. Chase kept a close eye on him, which was becoming increasingly difficult with Marvin panicking and Jameson not being much help.

Marvin was standing in the front yard, casting every shield and safety spell known to mankind. He considered going to talk to him but decided against it.

Dr. Septiceye appeared out of the stairwell right as Chase was about to go up it. He looked even more panicked than Marvin, his hair sticking up on end and damp with sweat.

He panted as if he’d just run a marathon. He grabbed Chase by the shoulders and took a second to catch his breath. “I need to tell you something!”

He gripped the doctors wrist in return. “What is it?”

“It’s about Anti!”

Chase’s blood ran cold. “What is it? Did you see him? You should tell Ma-” the doctor cut him off.

“No! Nonononono! Anti he isn’t-” He didn’t finish. His face turned pale and he dashed back up the stairwell.

Chase turned to see Jameson standing behind him with a worried expression. Robbie stood behind him, holding his hand and sucking his thumb.

“Do you know what’s up with him?”

He shakes his head and hands Robbie off to him before disappearing up the stairwell as well.

“You wanna watch a cartoon or something?”

He gives him a confused puppy look but nods.

***

“What do you mean Dr. Septiceye is gone?” Greyson asked. All the septics were rounded up in the living room, all except one.

“I mean he’s gone. He wasn’t in the ER nor in his room. He just disappeared,” Henrik said. That put everyone on edge. If he was taken… Chase didn’t want to think about that.

“Are you sure he wasn’t just in the bathroom or something?” Greyson asked, chuckling nervously. He always tried to think positive even now, Chase respected him for that even if it was silly.

Marvin on the other hand did everything in his power to contradict whatever Greyson says. Or he usually would, right now he was staring silently at a wall. His expression a mix between guilt and anger.

“I’m sure. I even had Marvin call him. No answer.”

You could cut the tension with a knife… maybe not a knife.

“Who was the last person that spoke to him?” Henrik asked. Chase’s eyes flicked to jameson who had a blank look on his face.

“Jameson? Do you know anything?” All eyes turned to him, except Marvin who was still staring at a wall.

A bead of sweat dripped off his mustache as a slide appeared him his hand. **“No.”**

“Are you sure? I saw you go after him earlier, did he at least say anything to you?” Chase asked.

The dapper ego shot him a glare so sudden and uncharacteristic that Chase flinched and jumped back. In the second it was there, it left, leaving everyone’s eyes on him. Now he was sure he was losing it.

**“No, he didn’t say anything odd. He just seemed paranoid which didn’t seem off considering the situation.”**

“That’s it! We need to come up with a plan.” Greyson stood up, but was stopped by Marvin.

“Don’t you get it Jackie? I tried everything, I searched through hundreds of books and tried thousands of spells and he still got in.” His eyes glowed with anger. “There’s no point, we’re only delaying the inevitable.” 

Greyson pulled his arm out of his grasp. “We can’t loose hope now! We just can’t!”

“Yes we can. Just get it through your thick skull!” He jumped up to stare him down. “You can’t always win. There is no happy ending or some secret thing that’ll magically stop him. He won, we lost. Just accept your fate!”

“Why are you so persistent on giving up? Are you working for him?” He glared.

“ _How dare you_!” Marvin hissed. Everything went quiet. “I stood by you in everything. I followed up to here, I tried my best and I even tried to fuel your positivity but you need to face reality!”

“Guys-” Chase tried to say something but Henrik placed his hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

He hung his head low as he pulled Robbie out of the living room and left the other two to fight. Wait a second. Where did Jameson go?

Worry flooded his system, until he spotted him standing in the kitchen. Robbie wandered after Henrik, to his dismay, as Chase went to say something to him.

The kitchen was pretty isolated from the rest of the house. You couldn’t see inside unless you were looking through the door or through the small island between the kitchen and living room.

Jameson stood in the farthest corner, barely visible through the gap. The first thing Chase noticed is that Jameson’s eye was bleeding again.

“Jamie? Are you alright?” He takes a step closer, reaching out his hand only to have it slapped away. He glares, letting out a low snarl, causing him the jump back.

“James? Do you want me to go get Henrik?”

His expression doesn’t change. He takes a step forward, and Chase takes a step back. 

There was a loud snapping sound and everything went dark.

***

This has happened before. Or at least was always going to happen, no matter how many times you go back. Like when you reread a book or rewatch a movie, you already know how the story ends, yet you always feel a bit shocked in the end.

That’s how Chase felt at the moment. Like he’s experienced this before, but not in the way you feel before you reread a book, like how you feel once you start the sequel. You know how the first story ends but not where the other begins.

But unlike a book, something’s changed this time around. Something small, nearly unnoticeable, but it’s changed.

He sat in a dark room, his hands chained above his head. The room around him was in total darkness, except for a light coming from seemingly nowhere. It was quiet; too quiet. Even his heartbeat was silenced in this place. The only noise being the ticking of a clock.

The void. He was back. Or was this the first time he’s been here?

Either way he knew what would happen next. In the area past the light there stood a figure. They’d been standing there the whole time.

“Who are you? Speak!” But he knew who it was. Or he hoped he knew who it was.

“Chase brody,” the crappy text-to-speech voice said.

“What the fuck?”

“Language.”

“What are you? Do you work for Anti?”

“Ha ha ha,” it laughed, humorlessly. “Guess I played the character too well.”

It through something into the light. A detailed marionette. Chase had only ever seen the demon they called Anti once, but he recognized the puppet.

“W-what.” He stared at it dumbfounded, but it clicked together.

Anti never was the one controlling the marionette. But if not him, then who?

“I was hoping to make the doctor part of my collection, sense he needed a friend,” Another dry laugh, “but I got too wrapped up in toying with him that I didn’t notice the days passing by.”

A toy, that’s all they are to this thing. “You sick fuck!” He kicked and struggled against the chains.

“Didn’t I say anything about language? We ought to shut that mouth of yours.”

For a split second he could see something reflected off the light. A sewing needle.

A spool of thread landed on the floor in the light and he could hear the snip of scissors, but this time there was no one here to save him.

“Jameson, please don’t do this!” The figure froze.

“How did you-”

He laughed, a true laugh. Something he never thought he’d do in a place like this.

“Time is broken my friend!” The chains were gone and without a second thought he dashed to the left.

The light behind him disappeared. He could hear Jameson’s footsteps behind him, but they too, disappeared.

This is where the first book ends, and now Chase is left, diving headfirst into the next part. At least he had an idea of where to go.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the blue button. He still didn’t quite know what it meant or what it was for but he had a feeling Jameson would want it. He made a silent vow not to let him have it.


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I warned you not to test me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: death, needles

The void was pure chaos. Not the kind that was out to attack and kill Chase, but the kind that throws him off and wants him to go insane or just give up on trying to escape.

Part of him just wanted to curl up and let Jameson and whatever else was in this hell, catch up with him. But he couldn’t, he had to warn his friends, he had to save them.

The button weighed heavily in his pocket as he trekked on. If Henrik could find a way out then so could he.

Something about this seemed too simple, I mean sure he was walking through in endless hallway that looked faintly like the one back home, but something about running from Jameson felt too easy. It may be his own paranoia but what if he was watching Chase right now, biding his time to attack. 

He could barely see a door at the end of the hallway from where he stood. If this was just a darker version of home, that door would lead to the living room. He knew he couldn’t trust this place in the slightest but he made a dash for it anyway.

Like every nightmare Chase could remember that door kept getting farther away with each step. After a good bit of running he decided it was a fruitless effort and went instead for the doors lining the hall.

Usually there were signs on each door marking who it belonged to. In the darkness he couldn’t make anything out but he assumed it was Marvin’s.

The room itself was an endless void of darkness, with the faint outlines of a bed one a couch of some kind. 

As soon as he set foot in, the floor sucked him in and the door slammed shut. This felt familiar.

Like before in the “dream” he was falling, but it didn’t feel like falling, more like sinking through some sticky, ink like substance.

The inky substance dropped him into another room. Some of it still stuck to his hair and face.

He was back in the first room again. No it wasn’t. It looked and felt like the first room but something was off.

It took him too long, but he noticed two things hanging on the wall. Puppets on strings, seemingly held up by nothing.

The first one was the same one Jameson showed him earlier, Anti. The second took him awhile to recognize. Doctor Jacksepticeye.

In a split second decision he snatched both of them and went back to searching. Slingling them both over his shoulder.

As soon as he took another step forward and felt something swoop past him and he felt eyes watching him.

Spinning around there was nothing there. Just the endless darkness, but the feeling persisted. He didn’t notice that one of the puppets was now missing.

***

Cold. That’s all he could think of at the moment. It was impossible to tell how long he’d been traveling but he could tell something had changed. Mainly the temperature.

His teeth clattered together. He still felt as though someone was watching him. He’d learned to ignore it. Though now he swore he could hear footsteps behind him. 

Jameson was all he could think about. That and the cold.

He had to be planning something, he just had to.

As if on cue a robotic laugh echoed through the darkness, coming from in front of him.

It felt like some kind of movie. Jameson emerged from the darkness, a twisted grin on his face.

There were a lot of things Chase noticed. The most obvious was the fact that his right eye was replaced with a dark blue button. The button he had in his pocket seemed to simultaneously make more and less since.

The second thing he noticed was the footsteps behind him hadn’t stopped but seemed to be getting louder instead.

“You really thought you’d be able to get out of here?” Another laugh. “Like I would let you.”

“Do you control this place?” He asked, his eye darted around for any possible way to escape this. His best option was to stall.

“No, but I understand it.”

“If you understand this place then you know your way in and out. Right?”

“Of course I do. I also know when anyone leaves this place so even if you got out you still wouldn’t be free.” He had a smug look on his face.

“Then you could leave this place at any time?”

“Oh course!”

“Then why are you following me around and not going for the other egos? It seems like something’s off.” He says with a skeptical tone. This could go two ways.

“You don’t believe me do you?” A frown grew on Jameson’s face.

“No, no. I believe you. I just feel like you’re not taking advantage of the powers you have. I mean why choose to show up now, when i’m not even causing you problems?” He put on a plastic grin.

His face scrunched up even more as he let out a low robotic growl. “You are causing me problems! You stole my puppet.”

“That was a while ago. You could’ve gotten them from me any time.” He reached back and held out one, just now noticing the other was missing. “You know what? You’re right i don’t believe you.”

“How foolish. You can not fathom my power!”

“Then prove it to me! Show me you’re not lying!” This was a very bad idea.

“I will show you power. I’ll wipe you out and all the other egos to! You will see!”

“You don’t even know how to get to the others.” He put on his best smug look, doing everything in his power to hide how much he was shaking.

Jameson hissed and stomped his foot. A hole appeared, seemingly twisting reality itself. If you can call the void reality. Through it Chase could see the front door to Septiceye Inc.

"Pe̸rhap̧s̷ you'd̨ like̶ to͜ ̨w͏atch͜ ͞your fr̛ie̶n̕d͟s ͝su̵ffe͠r ͢i͘n̛ ͜front͠ of ͟y͠ou?“ His voice glitched.

Fuck. Now what?

“I still don’t think you have that much power. Sure your little magic trick is cool b-” He didn’t finish. Someone ran past him, they were fast but he recognized the clothing.  
“Wait! Jack?”

Dr. Septiceye tackled Jameson into the darkness surrounding them. The sounds of a fight echoed.

Without another thought Chase dashed through the hole and into the house.

Greyson jumped off the couch when he slammed into the living room.

“Chase? What happened to you?” He stepped towards him.

“Stay back!” He in no way trusted this place.

Greyson raised his hands in defense. “Are you alright!?”

“Stop talking! How do I even know you’re real?” Henrik appeared from the kitchen looking as confused as Greyson.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He said calmly and slowly. “Just breathe.”

Chase felt faint.

“I’m going to start moving forward, okay?” His hands still in the air he takes a step.

The father gripped the doorway, Anti still clutched in his hand. 

Greyson was now an arms length away. Henrik stood over by the couch, a worried expression on his face.

“I am going to reach out and touch you now. I promise I will not hurt you okay?”

D̲̘ǫ͙͙͎n̤͙̰̟̼̱̟'͕̗̰̰͎͉̗t̨̪̰̠̖͇͙ ̹t̰r̪͚͕̰͙͍͕u̶s̲̩̯t ͉͇͍͡h̼im͈͇̪̦.͚̬̩͚̗ A voice seemed to whisper in his ear. Something about that made Chase want to trust him more.

He slowly reached out and placed his hand on Chase’s shoulder. He gave a small, reassuring grin.

“Grey?”

He nodded in response, his grin growing wider. “Yes. It’s me.”

Henrik appeared next to him. “Would you explain what happened?”

“I-well.” He looked behind him. “No time!”

“What’s going on?”

He held out the puppet. Greyson grimmised.

“Why do you have this? And why does this exist?”

“Jameson made it! He made Anti.”

They glance at each other.

“You’re delusional Chase.” It was almost a hiss.

“Henrik!” Jackie sighed. “Chase you need to lay down. That’s a big claim to make and we can’t start fighting amongst ourselves.”

“You have to believe me! Jameson is the bad guy.”

**“What are you talking about?”** Jameson now stood behind him. Looking completely unscaved and normal.

“Nothing. Chase is just tired.” Greyson said.

“You motherfucker! What did you do to Dr. Jack?” He swiped at him, only to be held back.

**“Oh dear.”**

“Please calm down.” Greyson held on to him as tightly as he could without hurting him, lifting him slightly off the ground.

“You can fool them all you want but I know what you really are!” He kicked and fought.

**“Should I go?”**

“Yes that may be best.” Henrik said.

“No! Please you have to trust me. He’s the bad guy!” Anti slipped from his hand.

“I’m sorry about this, Chase.” Henrik said softly.

“Wha-” He felt a sharp pain in his arm and the world went black.

***

When he awoke it was eerily quiet. Which was very unusual.

When he stepped out into the hallway he was blasted with cold. The hallway was completely empty. The signs from each door were gone, all besides his own.

There was a familiar metallic smell coming from the living room. He went towards it. Why did he go towards it?

Inside they were there. The egos, his friends, on the floor. There wasn’t any blood, only that glassy look in each of their eyes.

Jameson stood in front of him, smiling.

“I warned you not to test me.”

Chase stared down in horror. “What did you do?”

“I just had a bit of fun. Too bad you weren’t there to join us.” Even with that text-to-speech voice he could hear the joy in his voice.

“Why? What did they ever do to you?”

“They pushed me aside. Through me out like I was nothing.” He kicked Henrik’s lifeless head. 

“How could you!” Tears spilled from his eyes.

He just laughed. Anger boiled in his gut, he ran towards Jameson and jolted upright in bed.

He was in his pajamas, covered in six blankets. Robbie stood next to him looking relieved.

“Robbie? What- why are you here?” He asked, wiping the tears from his face.

“I tired. Went in, see Chay crying. Go to wake up.”

“Oh.” He sighs, thankful it was only a dream.

“Also want give, Chay drop early.” He held up Anti.

Chase grabbed it. “Thank you.” He moved to get out of bed only to be stopped.

“Red say Chay need stay in bed.”

“Red?”

“Red hood. No know name.”

“Oh Grey. I need to get up.” He attempted to get up only to fall down. He couldn’t move at all.

“That why. Doc give thing, Chay stay in bed.” Robbie lifted Chase up carefully and put him back in bed. “I sleep now.” He went back to his nest in the corner.

Chase groaned. He wanted to scream and yell but he didn’t want to bother Robbie. So he allowed himself to fall asleep again.


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He stares at the page for a long time before shutting the book and tossing it to the side. “I don’t know the best way to explain this but you’ve got something, I’m not sure what, that can be used against Jameson.”

Chase awoke the Henrik sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed.

“Oh good. You are finally awake.” He stands up a places his hand on his forehead. “Are you feeling alright? Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine doc,” he groaned, swatting his hand away.

“If you say so. You should drink some water.” He nudges the water bottle on his nightstand and sits back down.

Now fully awake, Chase sits up and chugs half the bottle.

“I want to ask you a few questions.”

“Hm?”

“Well you disappear for fourteen hours without warning, freaking everyone out. Then you show up cover in some kind of ink, you freak out when Jackie tries to talk with you. Then you start yelling at Jameson. I believe we are owed an explanation.” 

“Fourteen hours?” He whispers, more to himself. “I’m not sure I can explain what happened.”

He nods in understanding.

“I also want to speak to you about, that…” He grimaces, gesturing to Anti who was slung over the headboard. “I do not know where, how, or why you have that, nor do I want to. I will not make you get rid of it, I only request it never gets anywhere near me.’

“Noted.”

He stands up and pushes Chase’s chair back where it belongs. “I also want you to apologize to Jameson.”

“Apologize? Why?”

“You yelled at him and accused him of doing something to Mr. Septiceye. I’m sure he will be understanding.” He shoots him a look, making sure he knows he doesn’t have a choice.

“Where is Marvin? I want to talk to him.”

Henrik frowns and looks away. “After his argument with Greyson, he stormed out and he has not returned.” He sighs and takes off his glasses to clean them. “We assumed the worst, especially after we noticed you were gone too.”

He shifts and looks down. “I’m sorry doc, I should’ve-”

“No! We can not be blaming ourselves or others. There is four of us left, five if you count Robbie, we are not dead yet.” He disappeared without another word.

After a moment or two, Chase pulls himself out of bed and grimaces at the sound of his joints cracking. He stuffs Anti into his closet and steps out.

Greyson was sitting on the couch, staring off into space. He didn’t even seem to notice or react to Chase sitting next to him.

“Grey? You doing alright?”

He nods slowly, still staring at the wall.

Chase scoots closer and wraps his arm around him. “I know that’s a lie. None of us are okay.”

“I shouldn’t have yelled at him. It’s my fault he’s gone and possibly dead!” He puts his head in his hands and starts crying.

“Hey, hey.” He hugs him closer. “In Henrik’s own words, We can’t be blaming ourselves.”

He wipes his face, sniffling softly. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”

That’s when Chase noticed Jameson standing the doorway to the kitchen. His chest bubbled with both fear and anger.

Jameson shot him a glare, clearly not afraid to show his true colors around him anymore. He gestures toward the kitchen.

He shakes his head, not about to fall for the again.

Greyson takes a deep breath and stands up. “Thank you, just for being a good friend. I have to go do my job.” He walks out.

Jameson struts over and takes Jackie’s place on the couch. He has a smug look on his face.

“Henrik asked me apologize to you, so I will. I’m sorry, I wasn’t myself and I hope you’ll forgive me.” He said through gritted teeth.

**“Of course I forgive you.”** Jameson smiled, perfecting the innocent look.

Lowering his voice, he continued. “I also wanted to say that while you may have everyone else fooled, I know who you truly are. I’m not afraid of you and I will stop you.”

The innocent look disappeared and a sinister smile appeared. **“You say you’re not afraid but I can read you like an open book. I’ve taken two of your friends, and no one is any closer to stopping me.”**

He hissed, wanting to yell and scream at him, but the logical side of him kicked in. That’s what he wanted him to do.

The innocent look reappeared as Robbie entered, sucking his thumb. He plops down next to Chase.

“Chay feel better?”

Chase smiled, momentarily forgetting about Jameson. “Of course, I’m feeling great!”

“Good. Also find this in Chay’s poke.” He holds out his fist and drops the blue button.

His heart skips a beat, lucky his backs toward Jameson, so he couldn’t see what it was. Carefully he slid it into his front pocket and patted Robbie’s back.

“Thanks Robs.”

Jameson shook his head and left. Part of Chase wanted to run after him, but he decided that might not be the best idea.

His best bet at the moment was to figure out something with Anti. He wasn’t sure how to bring him to life, with Dr. Septiceye it just happened so he wasn’t sure what to do.

***

On the third floor was a library that showed up with Marvin. It felt very empty without him there. With Anti in hand, Chase had hoped to find a book that could help him, but without Marvin that would be very hard.

He’d picked out a few books that looked promising, but half of them were in a language he didn’t know. The ones he could read weren’t much help either.

Walking down these impossibly long shelves of books, hope was draining fast. Until he accidently pulled out a book and the shelf opened up into a separate room. That’s when he remembered this was Marvin’s place.

The concealed room looked like a security room, with TVs lining a wall and tapes lying on the desk. He knew there were cameras all over the house, but he hadn’t known about this.

He didn’t get much time to explore either as there was a loud crash coming from somewhere downstairs. He closed up the room and ran to investigate.

In the living room Jameson stood, holding Henrik to the wall by his neck. Jackie and Marvin stood a safe distance away.

“Jameson stop! Anti is doing this to you, you have to fight back,” Jackie said.

He laughed in that robotic and creepy laugh. “You still believe Anti is in control. That’s all Anti is,” he pointed to Chase who still held Anti.

Marvin growled, pointing a wand a wand at him. “Let my friend go, now.”

“And If I don’t?” He squeezed the doctor’s neck causing him to gasp.

“I’ll send you back to the pit of hell you crawled out of.” 

Chase stood awkwardly to the side, unsure if he should intervene or run away. Luckily or unluckily the choice wasn’t his.

“Please Jameson, I know this isn’t you!”

“Shut-up Jackie! You need to except this is him!” 

“B-but-”

“No buts. We were tricked!”

Marvin snatched Anti from him and held it up to Jameson. “You want this back, right? Let’s make a trade.”

“Are you bargening with me?”

“Yes. Seems like a fair deal. Something we stole from you for something you stole from us.”

“Ha!” He laughs, “That toy means nothing to me when I have something better right in my grasp.”

The button weighed heavily in his pocket. He pulled it out and held it you in the air, all eyes turned to him.

“Where did you get t̵ha͠t!” Jameson hissed.

“Oh, this thing? Found it. Why, is it important?”

“Give it to me!” He let Henrik drop to the floor and ran towards him.

He was fast, but Chase was faster. He could also hear Marvin or Jackie running after them as well.

He ran back to the library and hid between the shelves. He was about to try and find a place to hide when he was pulled through a doorway that wasn’t there before.

Marvin stood there, they were both in the security room from earlier.

“Ma-Marvin!” He rushed forward and hugged him, “I was terrified, how’d you escape?”

“Escape? I was never caught.”

“Then how’d you know about Jameson? And where did you go?”

“I came here.” He slumps into a swivel chair and gestures around. “When I’m feeling down I’ll watch over some footage.”

“But where did this come from? Since when do we have this many cameras?”

“I installed cameras in every room, except the bedrooms and bathrooms ‘cause that’s creepy.”

Chase stepped closer and looked at the screens. “That still doesn’t explain how you knew about Jameson.”

He spins in the chair and faces the screens. “That’s easy. After the fight I noticed you and him in the kitchen. He snaps his fingers and you feel down.” He plays the clip on the biggest screen.

“After that the video glitches and cuts out, which would only happen if there was some kind of malfunction or some high level magic took place. You show up fourteen hours later and I put the two together and it hit me.”

“But why wait to attack him now? Why not when I was passed out?”

“I wanted to know what I was dealing with. Unlike you I think these out instead of running face first into stuff.” 

Chase smacks him. “So what are we up against?”

“Either some high level demon or a master of dark arts. Neither of which I am capable to fight. On my own at least.” He looks him in the eyes. “That’s why I need you.”

He jumped slightly, unsure whether he was lying or telling the truth. “Need me? Why?”

“Weeeeell~.” He grabbed a book off a stack of tapes and opened to a ribbon bookmark. “You have some personal experience fighting him. And you have um…” He trails off, staring at a passage Chase couldn’t read.

“I have what?”

He stares at the page for a long time before shutting the book and tossing it to the side. “I don’t know the best way to explain this but you’ve got something, I’m not sure what, that can be used against Jameson.”

He stumbles backwards, grabbing onto the desk to keep from falling over.

“I know this is a lot to take in.” Chase cuts him off before he can say anything else.

“We need to go back. We can’t leave the others to fend him off. What did you do with Anti?”

“Now hold on.” He stands and places his hand on his shoulder. “I have a plan, but you need to cooperate. I know this will sound crazy, so you have to promise you’ll hear me out entirely.”

“This feels like a bad idea.” He wipes the sweat off his forehead. “Fine. I promise to hear you out.”

He smiles and sits back down. “You need to go back into the void.”


	6. Part 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A sore loser! Is this just a game to you?” He shouted, scaring Robbie.

Chase had no idea what the rest of that conversation was, as far as he was concerned he blacked out and was now trying to find and stall Jameson until Marvin figured out how to get into the void.

That proved to be more difficult than he thought, as soon as he stepped out of the secret room he could tell something was off. He couldn’t even find Henrik or Jackie which bugged him. He did find Robbie, who was passed out in Henrik’s ER.

He didn’t seem to happy about being woken up, but it didn’t last long. Chase was both curious and scared to see what Robbie could do if he was actually upset, but that was something for another day.

The company was nice, even if neither really spoke.

Chase’s heart stopped as he came to the door to the living room. Thankfully Robbie opened it for him or he would’ve just stood there forever.

It was empty just like the rest of the house, not even a sign of the scuffle that had happened here just a few minutes before.

Now it occurred to him, he had no idea how long he spent in that room with Marvin. Not that time was reliable anymore. It could’ve been hours or days, or just a few seconds.

He’d checked everywhere in the house and the roof. He wasn’t sure if he should keep searching or report back to Marvin. It also just occurred to him that if there was one secret room he didn’t know about, there could be multiple.

Back in the library he opted to just pull out random books to see if anything happened. Nothing did.

Robbie was still silently following him, as he entered the security room. A shiver ran down his back as he realized Marvin wasn’t there. And neither was Anti.

“G-guess it’s just me and you buddy,” he mumbled, taking Robbie’s hand.

His next move was to watch over the last hour or so of footage to see if he could get any idea of where everyone went.

There was footage of all of them running down the hall, then Chase appears out of the stairwell and into the library, but no one else does. Marvin can teleport, and as far as he knows, so can Jameson. But that doesn’t explain where Jackie or Henrik went.

The stairwell doesn’t lead to anywhere else except the second and third floor, there’s nothing showing anyone exiting on the second floor, and it’s unlikely they just hid in the stairwell.

Either the cameras were unreliable or- 

“A secret tunnel!” 

Robbie gave him a weird look, but it didn’t matter. Grabbing the young zombie by the arm he raced to the stairwell.

***

Chase was disappointed in himself, even though he was one of the younger egos, he should’ve known about all this secret stuff. Maybe it was on everyone else for not telling him, but if everyone knows then there would be no point in it being secret.

Once he knew what he was looking for, it wasn’t that hard to find. There was a single brick that stuck out of the wall, pushing it in revealed a dark tunnel like he expected.

He was more surprised that he hadn’t found this before on accident. Usually little things like the brick sticking out would bug him to no extent.

Robbie didn’t seem at all fazed. Chase guessed he was young enough to think this was normal, or maybe he just doesn’t fully process things and just goes with the flow.

The tunnel lead to another stairwell. He could go up or down. Down seemed like the better option.

He reached the bottom and exited into a long hallway. It reminded him both of the dream and of the void and he hated it.

The door at the end of the hallway lead to a large room, with ceilings too high to fit under Septiceye inc. and yet here it was. 

“You’re aren’t the only one who understands the foundations of broken time,” Jameson’s robotic voice echoed. “Though unlike you, I can actually control it.”

His head snapped to the direction of the voice. There, leaning against the wall, stood Jameson himself, holding two marionettes in his hand.

“I was hoping to get ahold of that magician, but he’s a slippery one. I guess these will do.”

Robbie coward behind Chase, trembling slightly.

“Jame take Henry an’ Grey?” he asked.

“So it seems.”

“What? You’re upset that your friends failed to stop me? Don’t be a sore loser.” He tsked.

“A sore loser! Is this just a game to you?” He shouted, scaring Robbie.

“No yell Chay,” he whined, hugging his arm.

“Of course this is just a game. What else would it be.” He laughs.

“You’re sick.”

“So you’ve told me. Of course, I would be willing to bargain. If you had anything worthwhile.”

“Bargain? What are you talking about?”

“A soul for a soul, as you say. I give you these two puppets, an exchange for another two puppets.” Jameson’s eyes fell to Robbie.

He moved in front of him in defence. “No, you can’t have him.”

“So be it, he isn’t even worth half of one of these.” He held them up like trophies. “But of course you do have something I want. Something rather deer to me.”

Robbie growled, squeezing Chase’s hand.

Slowly he pulled the button out and held it up.

“Yes! Give it to me, and I’ll give you one puppet of your choosing.”

Robbie gripped his arm tight enough to leave a bruise. “No Chay!”

He weighed his options his his mind. There was no way he could choose between either of his friends, and it was clear Jameson needed this button. If he played his cards right he could leave here with all this friends and still have a leverage.

“I don’t know. That doesn’t seem too fair.”

“Not fair!” Jameson hissed, before regaining control. “Then let’s bargain. How do we make this _fair_?”

“Well. You kinda stole both of them from me. I know I stole this from you, but it seems you took more from me than I took from you.”

“But that button is far more important to me than these toys are to you.”

“If so, shouldn’t it be more fair for you to give me both my friends? Since this is so important.”

The expression on Jameson’s face proved Chase had won. He could’ve stopped while he was ahead, but instead he kept going.

“And now that I think about it, you didn’t just steal two friends from me. I do miss Dr. Jack.”

He let out a low growl, a small portal appeared and he pulled out a third marionette.

“Fine, three friends for the price of one button. Seem fair enough?” Even though there wasn’t much emotion in that robotic speech, you could hear the venom in each word.

Robbie still gripped his arm tightly. “No trust, bad deal.”

“Yeah, seems perfectly fair.”

“Wonderful, now. Give me my button.” he held his empty hand up.

“I know your tricks. You first.” 

He huffed and held out the three. Chase nudged Robbie slightly, taking and handing his friends to him.

“Okay you have what you wanted, now give me m͜y b͟utt̢o͜n̢!” His voice glitched.

“Oh course. I’m not the kind to dupe someone out of a deal. Robbie, why don’t you take our friends elsewhere.”

Robbie glanced between them before giving a half nod and walking away.

Chase waited a moment before slowly holding the button out to him. Jameson lunged for it, but Chase pulled it right out of his reach.

“Then again, that’s what I thought about you.”

“These feeble games will bring you nothing. All of you will be mine.”

“If you have this big plan, to kill us all, then maybe you wouldn’t mind explaining some stuff to me. Mainly what the fuck this place even is and how and why it’s under our house?”

Jameson stiffened, his glare sharpening. “Fine. This place is the original draft of sorts, before it was refurbished and abandoned.”

“Elaborate?”

“This was the original design for Septic Inc. Before the creator threw it out in favor of the new, modern design. But the concept didn’t completely die. It’s like when a programer gets rid of a section in a game but doesn’t fully remove the code from the final product.”

“Uh-huh.” He took the time to glance around the room they were currently in. It had tall ceilings with a curved glass roof, reminding him of an old style ballroom.

“Your friend the magician discovered this place and thought he could hide his friends here, what he didn’t know was that I already knew of this place.” He sounded smug and prideful.

“That kinda makes since. Why do you wanna kill all of us anyway? We didn’t even know you existed ‘till a good three days ago.”

“I don’t want to kill you,” he looked insulted, “I simply want to get you out of the spotlight and claim my rightful place.”

“What rightful place? I don’t understand!” 

“You’ll understand soon enough. First give what you owe me.” He reached out.

“One last thing. If you’ve got so much power, why not just kill me and take it yourself?”

He chuckled. “Because I like you Brody. You’ve got moxie, and you’re persistent and clever. You’ve got the most character and story out of all the others.”

“What do you mean by the most character?”

“You’re the most human. While the rest only have bits and pieces to them, you’re the one everyone is truly curious about, which makes you very useful.”

“Useful how!?”

“I think you’ve asked enough questions.” His demeanor changed, sending shivers down Chase’s back. “Give me the button or I will show you that there are fates worse and death.”

“Fine, fine.” It was a bad idea, giving up his leverage, but he’d gotten enough.

He snatched it from his hand and placed it over his right eye.

“Now that we’re done with that, time for the next step.”

He raised his hands up and iron bars popped out of the ground, caging Chase. He rose up, now suspended above the ground.

“Wait! No!” He shook the bars, but it was no use.

“Won’t be long before your friend comes searching for you. Then I’ll have the complete set. Toodaloo for now.” Jameson smirked. 

“You slimy piece of shit!” He slumped down to the floor of the cage, putting his face into his hands. “Goddamnit…”


	7. Final Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No. This game is a loop, we can either fight what caused the loop, or stop the loop where it started.” The clock began ticking backwards.

Chase feels like this has happened before. Maybe not this exactly, but the same scenario. Him trapped, waiting for his inevitable doom, hoping he could either come up with a plan, or someone else would save his hide. 

He prayed that Robbie would be okay and that Marvin wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and come save him. 

That button seemed to be the source of, or magnify JJ’s powers in some way. He wondered what would happen if he somehow got a hold of it again, and destroyed it. 

That was a thought for later, right now his main priority was getting out of this cage. How difficult could it be?

Apparently pretty difficult, considering after what was probably half an hour he was still stuck with no more of a clue than before. 

How did Jameson summon the cage anyway? He just raised his hands and pulled it out of the depths of hell itself. But how?

He tried to relax. Leaning back he tried to think. If he could figure out how Jameson did it, maybe he could reverse it. 

He focused his mind back to the time before he was trapped in the cage. Then, the cage was gone. One second it was there and one second it’s not. 

“Marvin?” No answer, which was very unlike Marvin, making Chase inclined to believe this was a trick or a trap of some kind. But why trap something you already have?

Trick or trap, Chase wasn’t going to figure anything out by just sitting here. He got up and went back through the stairwell back home. 

Every door in the house was open, except for the door to Marvin’s room were the man himself happened to be hiding, along with a pile of puppets that used to be his friends. 

“Chase! You’re alive,” Marvin cheered, swooping him up into a hug. 

“Yep.” He couldn’t help but giggle. “Where’s Robbie?”

“About that.” Marvin set him down and frowned, as Chase’s stomach dropped.

The magician held out Robbie, who was now a small puppet. “While you were gone JJ attacked. I was able to protect the others but I got sloppy.”

He took it solemnly. “How long was I gone?”

“A few hours.”

It most currently didn’t feel like a few hours, but he knew for a fact he could barely trust time anymore.

“But, on the bright side, while you were gone I did some reading. And I think I know how we can fix this. Or how you can fix this.”

“Well?”

“I think the reason Jameson seems so powerful, and the reason he wants you so bad, is because you’re both constants.” 

“Constants?”

“You may want to sit down.” Chase did so. “Jameson’s powers revolve around time in some way. He can turn back and move time forward, as much as he likes, but he remains constant, and so do you. Which is why I think he’s so hesitant to turn you into a puppet, despite having many chances to, and why I think you can fix this.”

“Wait.” He stood back up. “How do you want me to fix things? And what makes you so sure I’m consistent anyway?”

“Because, I just do. You trust me right?”

“Asking if I trust you automatically makes you less trustworthy, but yes. I think I trust you.”

Marvin sighed in relief. “As for how we fix this, that’s simple. I just need you to turn back time to before all this. That way we can have strength in numbers, and we’d be more prepared.”

“Turn back time?! I can’t do that!”

“Of course you can. You can do so much more than that too.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that anyone can mess with time, but it takes someone consistent within time, to control it.” 

“And the others. They didn’t believe me the first time around, what makes you think they will the second time around?”

“They will, trust me. Are you ready to fix things?”

Chase stared down at the marionette, a million thoughts raced through his mind. The past week or so, felt so fast yet so slow. The clock’s ticking seemed so loud right now. 

“No.” The clock stopped.

“No?”

“No.” He gripped Robbie tightly, before slipping it into his pocket. “No matter what we do, Jameson will outsmart us. You said it yourself, he can turn back time as much as he likes. It’s just a game of cat and mouse until the cat figures out all our tricks.” 

“I can’t believe it. You’re giving up?”

“No. This game is a loop, we can either fight what caused the loop, or stop the loop where it started.” The clock began ticking backwards. 

“What are you talking about?”

“I have another plan. You trust me, right?”

Marvin hesitated, but nodded nonetheless. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I hope so too.”

***

Henrik would probably be extremely angry once he found his way out of the janitors closet Chase locked him in. But a good nine months or so would probably be long enough for him to cool down. 

The hospital room was dark and creepy enough to be on the set of a horror film. He couldn’t help wincing at he stepped closer and took a look at the man on the bed.

Jack, his creator. 

He had to remind himself it wasn’t really him. Just a fake, set up for bait in some kind of weird trap that set everything into motion. 

Five minutes past. The heart monitor glitched, and all the machines began messing up. Static filled the room, and then darkness. 

Eternal, suffocating darkness. 

The void. 

*̸̢̪͎̯̲̓ͩ̊̉͒͜*̡̻͍̻̤͇̟̯̞̠̖̜̦̞ͭ̂͊͐̒ͩͥ͊͌*̒̏͐ͩ̃̏͑͂̈́̂҉̹̺̱̘̭͔̹͇̹̗̝͉̹̖̭̰͈̩͞ͅ

Chase awoke to a up, sinistar laugh. He was tied to a chair. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem like his pockets were emptied. 

“I wanted that idiotic doctor, but I suppose you’ll have to do,” a dark voice said. Anti. 

“Show yourself coward!”

“I don’t believe you’re in any place to insult me, considering I have you tied up and vulnerable.” Anti appeared in front of him, his body glitched and twitching around. 

“Apparently in the right place because you still refuse to show yourself.”

“What are you implying.” Anti growled, pressing the edge of his knife to his neck. 

“I’m implying I want to speak to your boss. Jameson.”

Anti went still, and in an almost robotic manner and stood up and stepped aside. The rope holding Chase to the chair disappeared and he stood up just in time to meet eye to eye with Jameson who appeared out of the darkness. 

“So you think you’re clever, ay?” Chase would never hear text-to-speech the same way ever again. 

“Yeah, in fact I do.”

“So, do you have a reason for taking your friends place, or was this just some you wanted to pull?”

“I want to make a deal with you. A trade I guess.”

“A trade?” He raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”

“I trade you myself, my popularity and power, an exchange for you leaving me and my friends alone.”

“Now you see. I think that’s where you misunderstand me,” Jameson smirked. “I want to be the center of attention and in order to do that, I can’t have the other egos in my way. It’s far too late for me to destroy them, but I can change them. Make their popularity my own. If I left you guys alone, even with your popularity, I still wouldn’t be the center of attention.”

“So in order for you to get what you want, what do you need?”

“I need to break your friends. Turn them into, perfect, empty vessels, like that.” He gestures toward Anti, who was standing stock still and emotionless. “He has no personality beside the one I or the fandom has given him, just like the others, but when I have control over him, any popularity he has belongs to me.” 

That threw a bit of a wrench in his plan, good thing there was still plan b.

“But, while I can’t leave you alone, I can offer you something.” He held out his hand. “Work with me. You can have whatever you want, your wife, your kids, a happy ending, and you can still have your friends.”

“But they wouldn’t be my friends.” He stared at the blank, empty canvas that was Anti. “It would only be what you and they wanted them to be.”

“And? Is the fandom’s interpretation all that bad?”

“No… But it still wouldn’t be right. They deserve the right to be themselves and have their own personalities, not to just be some pawn in your game to be popular.” 

“How unfortunate. But I suppose you’ll make a wonderful puppet.” He turned around and disappeared back into the darkness as Anti came back to life. 

“Shit.” There’s no way he could take Anti, he had a knife. But…

The demon glitched in front of him, holding up his knife. Chase held out the marionette of Robbie in defence before falling over from the sudden weight of holding the actual Robbie.

“Chay? Ant!” The young zombie ducked behind the chair. 

Chase groaned, regretting his spontaneous decision. He was able to roll out of the way and get up before Anti could stab him, but not before Anti could pin him to a wall that wasn’t there a second ago. Or maybe it was, time and space were hard to judge here.

The demon left a long, thin cut across his neck, almost like he was teasing him. Before he could do any real damage a small blur of purple and gray tackled Anti. 

“No hurt Chay!” Robbie screamed, giving Anti a good hard punch. Chase cringed at the sound of a bone, or something, cracking. 

While Anti was discombobulated, Chase ran over and touched him. Time seemed to reverse and Anti was back in good old, unharmful, puppet form. 

“You do understand I can keep returning him back to life no matter how many times you reverse him back into a puppet, right?” Jameson questioned. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be one for a fair fight?” Chase shot back, wiping the blood off his neck. “Sending your goon after me doesn’t seem to fair.”

“You’re right. But if you want a good one-on-one fight that means you can’t send your… whatever that thing is, after me either.” With a flick of his wrist, Robbie returned to puppet form too. “Shall we?”

“One thing.” He snatched up Anti’s knife off the floor. “Since you’re better at magic than me.”

“Fine. But you must know that it will have no effect on me.”

“Oh really.” Chase strutted forward with fake confidence. “Is that burron eye a part of you?”

Before Jameson could process, or respond to that, Chase drove the knife through his button eye.

Jameson let out a shriek that would probably haunt Chase’s nightmares for years. The right side of his face cracked like porcelain and he fell to the floor, clutching that side of his face. 

“Y̬͍͈͍͙o̵ṵ̤͉ͅ ̻̲̼̪͉̕e̬v̹̹̱̟̺͖̥i̝̭̦͔l̫ ̴̲͍̫̪̹̱l̪͎̟̠̱͈itt̲̪ḻ̭̯̮̰͎̖e̫̲̤ ̵͍̟s̜̪h̬̱̥̩̻i̷̙t̨̼!̦̗̭͘” 

“That’s a little hypocritical, since you wanted to take away my friends canon material just so you could have attention.”

“I won’t die. As long as the fandom knows about me, I’ll live. You know that!”

“Of course I know that. I don’t want to kill you either.” He dropped the knife. “I’d be willing to give you a second chance, if you wanted to come back in a different way.”

It may have just been Chase, but the being almost seemed to blush. 

“You can’t leave this place. You still have to serve the stanence.”

“Oh I know that too. I’m smarter than you think.” The father plopped down in the chair he was once tied to. “It’s only nine months, how bad could it be?”

Jameson hissed before fading away, deeper into the void.

The end…?


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few hours passed, Chase explained what happened, while leaving out a few details here and there. Eventually the little Q and A turned into the others explaining what happened while Chase was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wahoo, I know this fic has kind of been a bit of a mess, that got a bit meta towards the end, but man I’m I glad to have this story finished. Any constructive criticism, or overall thoughts are welcome.

There’s an old saying. “You never truly love something, until it’s gone.” Henrik can tell you first hand that it is one hundred percent true. 

Nine months ago, Chase pulled another one of his stupid pranks by locking him in a closet. By the time he’d found a way out, Chase was gone. 

At the moment, Henrik was stapling missing posters to every phone pole, tree, wall, bench, and anything else he could. Three months ago the police told him it was a loss cause. Two months ago Marvin took the sign off of Chase’s door marking it was his. Even after that Henrik refused to let him move anything inside the room.

It seems silly to have gone to the police. Everyone knew who took Chase and the police would be no help getting him back. It was most likely a spur of the moment thing, maybe to give everyone a slight bit of hope before it came crashing down.

Looking down at the smiling picture of his best friend, Henrik couldn’t help but feel a sting of guilt. It was almost like Chase had known what would happen, like Henrik was supposed to be the one taken, but he took his place. 

He wouldn’t say it out loud, but even he has started to lose hope on ever finding him. And he was sure all the others had given up too. 

The only person who hasn’t truly given up was Jackie, or Greyson as his real name, though no one besides Chase ever really called him that. Jackie would go out every day to swoop around the city in search of any sign of him. 

Eventually Henrik had to head home. It was getting late and he was out of posters anyway. 

He found Marvin standing around in the front room, looking tired and missing his mask. 

“Something wrong? You look almost like you’re lost.”

“Oh, no. I just felt like we might get another ego today. Seems my suspicions were wrong.” The magician shifted back and forth on his feet. “By the way, Ja- Greyson is waiting for you on the roof.”

Henrik nodded, heading up the stairwell to find the superhero on the roof. 

“Any news?”

Greyson shrugged, staring blankly over the edge of the building. 

“I guess not.” Henrik stood beside him. Even though the building was only three stories high, you could get a pretty good view of the city. 

“Are you doing alright?”

“Yeah… It just miss him. It’s not fair! And I’ve been thinking. It’s been almost ten months and still not even a ransom note or something!” He draws in a long, shaky sigh. “What if An- you-know-who didn’t take him and he just left.” 

Henrik shook his head. “That’s not Chase. He would’ve spoken to someone or left a note.”

“Right. I know. I would know being his best friend and all. It’s just, it’s been so long, and my thoughts have started to get to me ya know.”

“I know.” He pats his shoulder gently.

Greyson grins softly. “I’m just saying, if you-know-who did take him, he’d probably be d-” he cuts off. 

“I know he could be dead, but we can’t gi-” Greyson slapped him, frantically pointing down at the sidewalk below. 

There, prancing forward like he usually would, was Chase, holding the hand of what looked to be a child. 

Henrik had to stop himself from jumping off the building to see if it was really him. Both of them scrambled for the elevator, before deciding to bolt down the stairs. 

Henrik met Chase, while he was still out on the sidewalk.

“Chase!” He was about to hug him but the vlogger held out a hand to stop him.

“You have no idea how much I’d love to hug you right now, but if you did I’d probably straight up, pass out. But I brought you a souvenir.” Chase passed him the hand of the child he had with him, was Henrik now noticed had greyish purple skin and smelled of death, as the father walked past him to head inside.

Marvin stood frozen in the front room along with Jackie, neither fully processing that Chase was here in front of him with seemingly no harm done to him. 

“Ay, Marvin. Do you still have that sewing kit?”

Marvin swallowed and nodded. “You’re alive?”

“Not on the inside but yeah, I’m alive.”

Before anyone can say anything, Jackie runs up and squeezes Chase in a big hug, tearing up. 

“Jackie. Jackie, you’re hurting me.” Chase squeaked, tearing up as well. 

He loosened his grip, still holding him like he’d disappear the second he let go. “I know, I know. I just missed you so so much.” 

“Hey, I missed you too, Grey.” He hugged back. “But if you keep hugging me I will actually pass out, so if you don’t mind-” 

“Right, okay.” Greyson set him down. “I just missed you so much.”

“I know. I missed you too, all of you.” He smiled at Marvin, who’d just been awkwardly standing to the side. 

“I’ll try to explain where I’ve been later. After I take a twelve hour nap. Tell Dr. Septiceye I said hi. Also when or if I get up, I’ll need that sewing kit.” Chase yawns and walked past them to pass out in his room, leaving both of them dumbfounded on how he even knew how Dr. Septiceye was. 

***

Henrik had been passing around the ER for the past hour, trying to figure out what the hell Robbie was, who he existed, and where Chase got him, while Dr. Septiceye watched wearily. 

“Why don’t you ask Chase when he wakes up?”

“No! I am a man of science! I must figure this out myself.” The good doctor shouted, staring at the young zombie who was passed out on the old pullout couch.

“You’re a doctor. You should be focusing on work, not the kid. Maybe let some mysteries bubble.”

“No! You’re the doctor! I am a scientist, now dedicated to figuring out the science of zombification.”

“About that.” Dr. Jack stood up and removed his coat. “I’m hardly qualified to be a doctor. I only came about because you were busy trying to find Chase, to do your job. Now that Chase is back, you can return to work and there’s no need for me to take your place.” He held the coat out to him, a peace offering. 

Henrik took it, suddenly forgetting about what he was just saying. “You’re… resigning?” 

“Yeah, pretty much. I never really cared for the idea of being a doctor, and I know the fandom misses you a whole hell of a lot. So yeah. I’m resigning and letting the real, cereal box licence, doctor return to his throne.” He gestures to the desk.

Henrik stepped forward and placed his hand on the desk. “This- this is my desk.”

“I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed. I got rid of the old metal desk almost two weeks ago.”

Henrik chuckled, sitting down in his chair. “I swear, if this is just some while big setup to make me do your paperwork, I’ll kill you.”

“No strings attached. I promise.”

“So if you’re no longer a doctor, are you just going to be Jacksepticeye?”

“No, no. That’d get confusing quick. I’m think I’ll go for something simpler. Jace.”

“Jace. I like it. Now get out of my office!” He stands up and points to the door, smiling widely. “I’m still going to dedicate my time to trying to figure out zombification.”

“Okay, okay. No need to tell me twice. Good luck on your research.” 

***

The next thing anyone knew, they were all gathered around the couch, watching Chase work on what appeared to be a doll. 

“Oo! I should put a little sweater vest on this guy. That’d be so cute! Marvin, can you should me how to make a tiny sweater vest while we’re talking?”

“Sure, do you also want me to teach you spanish and latin while we’re talking?” Marvin said, smiling a bit.

“I’d like to learn spanish!”

They all laughed, happy to have good old Chase back. 

Marvin magicked a ball of yarn and hopped onto the couch beside him. 

“So you’re telling us while in the void, you killed Anti?” Jackie asked, a little dumbfounded.

“Well not killed, but hurt. And not without Robbie’s help. I know for a fact anti won’t hurt us again.

A few hours passed, Chase explained what happened, while leaving out a few details here and there. Eventually the little Q and A turned into the others explaining what happened while Chase was gone. 

“What’s up with the doll anyway?” Someone asked.

“I’m glad you asked. Let me show you.” He finished up one final stitch and set the doll on the coffee table.

The doll glowed and seemed to unravel as it grew, until it was the size of a person. Then there was a man sitting there on the table, a splitting image of the doll. He looked nervous. 

Chase stood up. “Everyone! I’d like you to met Antonio Septiceye, our newest ego.”


End file.
